Published: Sunday, March 16, 2014 at 6:46 p.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, March 16, 2014 at 6:46 p.m.

“Look, daddy, I found a dinosaur bone!” squealed Olivia Ayers, 6, as she unearthed a replica fossil Sunday at the N.C. Arboretum.

Ayers and her cousins hunched over the sandbox “field station” with wide-eyed wonder as casts of dinosaur eggs, scales and teeth were uncovered by their paint brushes. The display was part of an exhibit on loan to the arboretum from the Catawba Science Center called “Be the Dinosaur: Life in the Cretaceous Period.”

The exhibit, which runs through May 8, melds traditional museum fare such as life-sized fossil casts with modern technological marvels, including robotic dinosaurs and interlinked video game consoles that let players simulate what life was like 66 million years ago as a Triceratops or T-Rex.

The realistic “simulators” put kids and their parents inside the skin of both predator and prey, allowing them to choose behaviors such as seeking food, water and shelter from enemies.

“I really like running away from the T. rexes,” said Ari Cohen, 7, a first-grader at Odyssey Community School in Asheville, who spent two hours at the exhibit with his family Sunday.

His mom, Tamara Reynolds, is an avid student of evolution and genetics. She thought the arboretum exhibit would make a good precursor to the family's upcoming visit to the Greensboro Science Center and its life-sized cast of Sue, the largest and best-preserved T. rex skeleton found in North America.

“We love science,” Reynolds said, sitting at a console next to her daughter, Hannah. “Today, we saw how plants today compare to the plants back then. And we learned that they've never found a complete Stegosaurus skeleton.”

As she maneuvered her virtual Triceratops through the Cretaceous greenery with her joy stick, Reynolds hit buttons to sniff for food, eat nutritious plants and lap up water. There was also an option to “poop.”

“If you don't eat or drink water, you die,” she said. “I don't know what happens if you don't poop.”

“You may explode!” said Hannah, who enjoyed the simulated noises that accompanied the virtual world.

Dinosaur dung is actually quite instructive, according to the exhibit. Scientists have been able to discern what dinosaurs ate by their fossilized feces, called coprolites. They've found leaf and seed material in those of herbivores such as Triceratops and crushed bone in a 30-pound coprolite thought to be from a T. rex.

A touch-screen station called “Designasaurus” allowed visitors to create a dinosaur of their choosing, experimenting with various camouflage patterns and altering the species or backgrounds. Rylie Maney, 7, of Weaverville wasn't shy about declaring his favorite choice.

“I just like the meat-eaters,” he said.

His dad, Warren, said the family was vacillating between spending a rainy, cold Sunday at the WNC Nature Center or the arboretum and “when we saw dinosaurs, that was it.”

“Be the Dinosaur: Life In The Cretaceous” runs through May 8 in the Arboretum's Baker Exhibit Center, 100 Frederick Law Olmstead Way, Asheville. Parking is $12 per personal vehicle, $50 per commercial vehicle and $100 for buses or motorcoaches. For more information, visit www.ncarboretum.org.

<p>“Look, daddy, I found a dinosaur bone!” squealed Olivia Ayers, 6, as she unearthed a replica fossil Sunday at the N.C. Arboretum. </p><p>Ayers and her cousins hunched over the sandbox “field station” with wide-eyed wonder as casts of dinosaur eggs, scales and teeth were uncovered by their paint brushes. The display was part of an exhibit on loan to the arboretum from the Catawba Science Center called “Be the Dinosaur: Life in the Cretaceous Period.”</p><p>The exhibit, which runs through May 8, melds traditional museum fare such as life-sized fossil casts with modern technological marvels, including robotic dinosaurs and interlinked video game consoles that let players simulate what life was like 66 million years ago as a Triceratops or T-Rex.</p><p>The realistic “simulators” put kids and their parents inside the skin of both predator and prey, allowing them to choose behaviors such as seeking food, water and shelter from enemies.</p><p>“I really like running away from the T. rexes,” said Ari Cohen, 7, a first-grader at Odyssey Community School in Asheville, who spent two hours at the exhibit with his family Sunday. </p><p>His mom, Tamara Reynolds, is an avid student of evolution and genetics. She thought the arboretum exhibit would make a good precursor to the family's upcoming visit to the Greensboro Science Center and its life-sized cast of Sue, the largest and best-preserved T. rex skeleton found in North America.</p><p>“We love science,” Reynolds said, sitting at a console next to her daughter, Hannah. “Today, we saw how plants today compare to the plants back then. And we learned that they've never found a complete Stegosaurus skeleton.”</p><p>As she maneuvered her virtual Triceratops through the Cretaceous greenery with her joy stick, Reynolds hit buttons to sniff for food, eat nutritious plants and lap up water. There was also an option to “poop.”</p><p>“If you don't eat or drink water, you die,” she said. “I don't know what happens if you don't poop.”</p><p>“You may explode!” said Hannah, who enjoyed the simulated noises that accompanied the virtual world. </p><p>Dinosaur dung is actually quite instructive, according to the exhibit. Scientists have been able to discern what dinosaurs ate by their fossilized feces, called coprolites. They've found leaf and seed material in those of herbivores such as Triceratops and crushed bone in a 30-pound coprolite thought to be from a T. rex. </p><p>A touch-screen station called “Designasaurus” allowed visitors to create a dinosaur of their choosing, experimenting with various camouflage patterns and altering the species or backgrounds. Rylie Maney, 7, of Weaverville wasn't shy about declaring his favorite choice.</p><p>“I just like the meat-eaters,” he said. </p><p>His dad, Warren, said the family was vacillating between spending a rainy, cold Sunday at the WNC Nature Center or the arboretum and “when we saw dinosaurs, that was it.” </p><p>“Be the Dinosaur: Life In The Cretaceous” runs through May 8 in the Arboretum's Baker Exhibit Center, 100 Frederick Law Olmstead Way, Asheville. Parking is $12 per personal vehicle, $50 per commercial vehicle and $100 for buses or motorcoaches. For more information, visit www.ncarboretum.org.</p>